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SOTT News Snapshot: September 8, 2016 edition


Sott.net
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 14:58 UTC
belarus russia flag paralympcs
© SputnikBelarusian Andrey Fomachkin carries a Russian flag during the opening ceremonies of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro on September 7.
PolitRussia's Ruslan Ostashko has an interesting take on Putin's recent interview with Bloomberg, pointing out that John Micklethwait, Bloomberg's chief editor and the man who conducted the interview, is a card-carrying member of the Western elite, being a long-time Bilderberg club participant. This may explain why Putin seems to have treated him as an "expert" rather than just a journalist, and may explain the line of force of not only the questions, but also Putin's answers. Recommended watching:


(You can read coverage of the interview on SOTT here, here, here, here, and read the full transcript here.)
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Light Sabers

Former friends, now bitter rivals -- Poland and Ukraine accuse each other of genocide

Mikhail Klikushin
Observer
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 02:30 UTC
Polish remembrance genocide
© Sputnik/Alexey Vitvitsky
On August 24, the 25th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, only one head of state visited Kiev in ashow of solidarity with the struggling nation: Polish President Andrzej Duda. There would have been none if not for the sudden, although expected, developments in the Polish Parliament—the results of which demanded the president's urgent presence at the event. Although Poland, together with three Baltic states, has shown itself a strong supporter of Ukraine's pro-European push, relations between the two have recently chilled to a dangerous level of mutual mistrust and animosity.

On July 22, Polish Parliament passed a resolution "In memory of the victims of genocide—citizens of the Second Rzeczpospolita—committed by Ukrainian Nationalists from 1943-1945," establishing July 11 as National Remembrance Day for victims of "genocide" at the hands of UPA-UNSO on the eastern borders of Poland during WWII.

UPA-UNSO is an abbreviation for the "Ukrainian Insurgent Army," whose leaders, Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych, are considered the spiritual founders of modern-day Ukraine—despite their collaboration with military and political authorities of Nazi Germany.

In the resolution, Polish parliamentarians stated:
"On July 11, 2016 we commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the peak wave of crime, which was committed in the eastern regions of the Second Polish Republic by the civil structure of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, by the armed Ukrainian Insurgent Army, by the SS Galicia Division, as well as by other Ukrainian units that collaborated with the Germans. During the genocide that took place in 1943-45, more than 100,000 Polish citizens were slaughtered, mostly peasants. Their exact number is still unknown and many of them await decent burial and recognition... A tribute to the victims has never been given, and these mass murders have never been called—in accordance with the truth—a genocide."
All 432 of the Polish parliamentarians voted for the resolution, with no opposition.

Comment: The 'brotherhood of mankind' suffers from separation -- by artificial boundaries, politics and ideologies, to name a few. Are we more identified with a boundary than being a member of humanity? Obviously some/most are. All nations have thus suffered losses. Lessons.

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Eye 2

The 10 worst lies that the West tells about Syria

Neil Clark
RT
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 18:47 UTC
syria destruction
© Abdalrhman Ismail / Reuters
Here are 10 of the worst lies that have been peddled by the West regarding Syria, with the aim of giving people living in Western countries an entirely false view of the conflict that has been raging in the Middle East country since 2011.

As in the case of previous US-led wars against Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya the lies told in relation to the ongoing conflict in Syria have been quite outrageous.

1. The West has failed to intervene in Syria - and that's been the problem

This oft-repeated claim (only last week the Washington Post was lamenting 'the disastrous non-intervention in Syria') is a complete inversion of the truth.

Even without directly bombing the Syrian government in 2013 (as the uber-hawks wanted), the west has intervened massively in Syria, by funding, supporting and training violent anti-government 'rebels', many of whose weapons just happened to end up in the hands of ISIS. The west not only to ignite this conflict (see here) they've also helped to keep it stoked for over five years.

Brendan O'Neill had the perfect riposte to the neocon/faux-left 'If only we'd intervened in Syria' brigade:

"Western intervention is the ultimate author of the nightmare in northern Iraq and Syria. Do something? You already did something; you did this, you made this horror."
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Stock Down

Jim Rogers: 'Be worried, on horizon of serious economic crisis'


RT
Tue, 06 Sep 2016 14:13 UTC
oil rig
© Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
Investor Jim Rogers has some sobering words on the future of the global economy. Even though the leading oil producers are working on price stabilization, he warns another significant economic crash could be on the cards within a couple of years.

Oil prices spiked on Monday after Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed [on] working toward market stabilization. The two countries are setting up a working group to help support prices, after the collapse in 2014.

RT: What can the two countries do to stabilize prices?

Jim Rogers:The Saudis have made it clear they don't want to cut production and they are right, in my view. I am not Saudi Arabian so I can't tell them what to do. The Russians want to cut production, that's not what I would do. I would let the market play itself out. It is taking a while but the high cost producers are closing down and going out of business. You are forcing the high cost exploration to stop. There is no exploration. Exploration budgets are cut by ninety percent. This eventually means no oil supply, and the price goes through the roof again. Why would you sell your oil down at these prices if you could wait and sell it later?

Comment: According to Rogers, there will be a better stability in the markets without manipulation. Let normal, natural processes unfold. When you think about it, there are so many circumstances in which this advice is appropriately applicable. Hands off. Can we do it?

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Briefcase

Lawsuit: Alabama's appellate courts skewed to block minority judges


RT
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 03:14 UTC
Appellate court
© judicial.alabama.govMajority rule
Alabama is going to court, over their courts. A lawsuit from the NAACP claims that Alabama's election system for judges has blocked African-Americans from ever serving on the state's criminal and civil appellate courts.

Despite whites making up just under 70 percent of Alabama's population, they hold 100 percent of the state's civil and criminal appellate courts. In addition, Alabama's Supreme Court has only had three African-Americans on its bench in the past 36 years, according to a lawsuit from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Many law firms have joined the NAACP's lawsuit. It was filed in a federal court by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in partnership with civil rights attorneys James Blacksher and Edward Still, Montgomery-based attorney J. Mitch McGuire, Crowell & Moring LLP, and the firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP - the last two of whom are working pro bono, according to the Alabama Media Group.

Appellate judges are voted into their positions, where they are meant to represent their state's adult population. However, the NAACP believes that Alabama's history of racial discrimination in voting could play into the uneven racial representation of appellate court judges. "In 2016, Alabama's appellate courts are no more diverse than they were when the Voting Rights Act was signed more than 50 years ago," Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee, said in a statement.

The lawsuit explains that blacks represent one in four Alabamians, but tend to favor different political stances than their white statesmen. As a result, "the at-large method of election deprives one-quarter of the State's voting-age population of the chance to elect judges of their choice to any of the nineteen seats on the three courts."

Comment: Alabama's sordid history of racial politics does not favor equality for African Americans, especially evident in redistricting plans gerrymandered to weaken African American voter power and increase that of the Republican party. Lawsuits at least shine a light into this darkness.



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Sherlock

Obama assures Erdogan his commitment to find perpetrators of failed coup

Ken Bredemeier
VOA
Sun, 04 Sep 2016 09:39 UTC
Obama Erdogan meeting
© Reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama assured Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday that Washington is committed to bring the perpetrators of the failed July coup against his government to justice, but stopped short of saying the U.S. would extradite the Muslim cleric that Ankara blames. "We will make sure that those who carried out these activities are brought to justice," Obama told the Turkish leader as they met on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.

Turkey contends that 75-year-old Fethullah Gulen, living in self-imposed exile since 1999 in the eastern U.S. state of Pennsylvania, orchestrated the putsch, although he adamantly has denied any involvement. Turkey has pleaded with the U.S. to send Gulen back to Turkey, but American officials say that Ankara has yet to provide them with any evidence linking him to the failed plot to overthrow Erdogan's government, only information about his past activities. The U.S. says that any extradition attempt would have to be approved in the U.S. court system.


Comment: Obama's reach out is late and perfunctory. Erdogan is playing all sides against each other. He is the problem child nobody wants but no one else can have.

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Heart - Black

Wolves in sheep's clothing: Exposing the treachery of U.S. funded NGO's


The New Atlas
Tue, 09 Aug 2016 00:00 UTC
ned ngo cia

From Moscow to Myanmar, US-European funded organisations undermine the essential work of genuine NGOs.

A nongovernmental organisation (NGO) is described as a not-for-profit organisation independent from states and international governments. They are funded by donations and facilitated by volunteers drawn from the communities they serve.

Genuine NGOs fitting this description fulfil a vital role within the nations they work regarding issues including education, healthcare, the media, the environment, technology, and economic development.

They often perform their work in parallel with government organisations and may even cooperate with their national government. At other times, the provide a necessary but constructive check and balance to deficiencies present within a state.

However, NGOs can be abused. Foreign governments and financially motivated special interests can use the structure and appeal of NGOs as vectors to project unwarranted, coercive power and influence.

Comment: Washington's network of NGOs exist primarily to promote its interests under the pretext of promoting 'democracy', when in fact they have been used over and over across the globe to attempt regime change in any country that the White House perceives as a threat to US hegemony.

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Chess

Russia-US talks on Syria to continue, agreement not yet finalized


RT
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 18:24 UTC
putin obama
© Alexei Druzhinin / Sputnik
Russia-US talks on Syrian reconciliation have not continued yet, as the agreement is "not finalized," the Kremlin spokesman said, dismissing a Washington Post report on the White House's "final proposal" to Moscow as "not fully relevant."

"There is indeed a certain agreement or document which was actually mentioned by [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, but it is not yet finalized," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by news agencies.

"Undoubtedly, all of this can only be discussed as a compromise, and the work to find this compromise is going on," he said.

Finding ways to resolve the Syrian crisis was at the top of the agenda in a meeting between President Putin and his US counterpart Barack Obama, held on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China.

Shortly after the meeting, the Washington Post published a report describing the Obama administration's "final proposal" to Moscow, adding that the US is running out of patience trying to pave the way for a ceasefire in Syria.
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Info

Bull in a china shop: Nadiya Savchenko's assault on Ukraine's elite

Christian Neef
Spiegel Online
Wed, 07 Sep 2016 17:45 UTC
Nadiya Savchenko
© Maxim Dondyuk/DER SPIEGEL

In front of the presidential palace in Kiev, where the street climbs up from the Maidan to the steep bank above the Dniepr River, dozens of people are protesting. The group is made up of the wives and mothers of soldiers who have fallen into the hands of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

In their hands are photos and documents recording the fates of their loved ones. Over 100 soldiers are thought to be locked away in separatist prisons, though nobody knows the exact number.

"The president should finally exchange the men for our own prisoners," one woman calls out in Ukrainian through a megaphone. "I demand that his staff speak with each and every one of the family members!"
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Chess

Strengthening ties: Assad accepts invitation to visit China


FARS News Agency
Wed, 07 Sep 2016 17:28 UTC
assad
Arab media outlets reported that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accepted China's invitation to visit Beijing in the next few weeks.

According to al-Safir newspaper, China has demanded Syria to allow the country's fighter jets use Tartus airbase, a port city in the Mediterranean coasts, and sent Director of the Office for International Military Cooperation of China's Central Military Commission, Guan Youfei to Syria on August 16 to discuss the issue with the Syrian officials.

During the first three years of war in Syria, the Chinese showed conservatism in signing arms deals with Damascus but in the past one and a half years, they have shown more willingness to implements their military agreements with Syria.

The report came after media sources disclosed last month that a Chinese military delegation in a visit to Damascus explored avenues for the dispatch of a number of warplanes to Syria to intensify war on terrorism in the Middle-Eastern country.
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